1989 Photo Contest, World Press Photo of the Year

Photographer

David Turnley

Detroit Free Press / Black Star

01 December, 1988

Boris Abgarzian grieves for his 17-year-old son, a victim of the Armenian earthquake.

On 7 December 1988, a magnitude-6.8 earthquake hit the northwest of Armenia, then a Soviet republic. The initial earthquake was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, creating havoc and devastation. The Spitak Earthquake, also known as the Leninakan (Gyumri) Earthquake or the Armenian Earthquake, killed more than 25,000 people and destroyed the homes of hundreds of thousands.